bats 88 Bronco II Build Up aka Project Second Chance

[bats]

Things are moving along quite nicely now. The Bronco is but a shell of it's former self. Literally. The engine and transmission are gone. The interior is still inside, but it's not bolted down to anything.

Degreased and power washed the engine bay. It took two bottles of degreaser to cut through all the crap.

As for the Explorer, trans is almost out. Heat exhaustion this afternoon made me pack it in early.

At this point I plan on lining the inside of the Bronco with some POR 15 since the firewall was starting to disintegrate. Then I'll put down sound proofing material before putting the dash back together.

Once I have the A4LD out of the Explorer, I'm going to have it built up. Transgo kit and rebuild. I'd rather not have to pull another one any time soon.

As for the engine, the 4.0 ran pretty good and didn't really burn oil so less will be done to it. Definitely freeze out plugs since two have already been replaced.

 

[Glen4X4]

thats surprises me about the firewal as clean as the exterior of the BII was...good luck.

 

[bats]

Yeah, the upper half of the firewall is brittle.

Sorry folks, no pictures but lots of progress. At this point you all probably know what a first gen motor looks like. I'm happy to announce that mine is now sitting next to it's transmission counterpart in my garage. Largely thanks to my dad, I was able to get it out last night.

Side note: Haynes repair guides ain't worth jack squat. The descriptions are vague and inaccurate. I pulled 6 bell housing bolts and the frking thing wouldn't come out. Turns out there's a total of 8. Shame on me though for not searching here first. Considering dropping the $$ for a factory service manual just to have on hand.

Here's my status report:
Engines and transmissions out. Bronco II mostly gutted. Wiring harnesses pulled and labeled. Woot. Time for some maintenance.

The Explorer engine only has about 118,x.. on it and when I parked it it was running good. I don't plan on going crazy since I don't want to ruin a good thing. Plans for the engine:

1.Wires/Plugs
2.Freeze out plugs (I already blew 2)
3.Mellings High Volume Oil Pump
4.Throttle body mod
5.Debating doing valve cover gaskets. The engine block was pretty dry so again, don't break it if it's not broken.
6.Clean up the engine.

As for the transmission, I could go for a several thousand dollar build up but I need to keep myself in check. Most of the time it will be a road truck. It does serious offroading 3-4 times a year if I'm lucky. I hardly consider the local beach 'offroading' and most if not all the 'trails' by me aren't worth the risk. In short, I really don't abuse it too badly.

The goal with the transmission, as with the engine is reliability. Once it's in, I'd rather it stay in. Doesn't have to be the fastest, just last a while. I'm probably just going to have a shop do a rebuild. Automatic transmission is one thing I just won't touch. Considering the Trans Go kit. That'll be another night of research.

 

[bats]

Another idea I had while shooting the bull with my dad was aftermarket heating. Instead of deal with the air box etc, I was thinking about getting something like the Vintage Air system. Maybe not as pricey though. I don't really use the A/C ever, even when I have it. One of my Buicks has this neat unit that's about VCR sized mounted under the dash. Just an idea to come back to later. I should worry about getting it running for now.

 

[bats]

Got a lot done this weekend, though not as much as I'd like. I guess that's one of the downsides of having a lot of irons in the fire, everything needs attention.

Anyways, I pulled the steering and other accessories from the Ex. Started laying out stuff in the engine bay. Not sure if I'm going to keep the cruise control. Need to work on getting the airbox assembly out in tact. I was maybe a little rough when pulling it out of the Bronco.

Carpets and seats are now gone. I figured while I had everything out, I'd POR15 the floor and firewall and put down some sound deadener before putting the dash in. I went shopping on Friday only to find out that no places by me have POR15 in stock. Seems to be online only. I opted for Rustoleum Heavy Metal Rust Primer and some flat black Rustoleum to go over that. I shot my 64 Le Sabre in Rustoleum until I could get around to finishing the body work and it's held up quite well. Anything is better than having the bare rusty metal exposed to the elements. I scraped out all the factory sound deadening panels from behind the drivers seat forward. The passenger side was moldy and had an entire colony of ants under the carpet. I drowned those little suckers with some whiskey I had on hand. Ants can't hold their liquor.

The floor pans were rather rusty due to trapped moisture and I could put my screwdriver through the firewall in a bunch of places. I don't have the resources to weld on panels etc so Rustoleum will do.

I was researching what to do with the shifter. On another Bronco forum, some one reused their first gen floor shifter with a newer A4LD. Just swap the shift connector on the tranny. I have yet to look at it for myself, but that seems like a viable option. If I find out that it sucks, switching to column shift isn't a problem.

This week/weekend I hope to get the steering column and gearbox in.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

oouf dan, that rot looks nasty. would a chunk out of a late 80's early 90's ranger work?

 

[bats]

I'm thinking of cutting out panels from the Explorer firewall and having my uncle weld them in or just borrowing his setup. Doesn't matter if my welds aren't pretty since this is all out of site.

This is frustrating because I'm ready to start putting stuff back into the Bronco. Ideally, I'd have the truck at least running by November. But alas, the cancer needs to be addressed.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

if you have a patch panel that fits in there, it goes by pretty fast. that and you have already done most of the grunt work to get at it. cutting it out, preping it, welding it in, grinding it, and sealing it up shouldnt take more then a few hours, and a few shots

 

[rickybobby]

x2 tim, with the right patch panels thats an afternoon of work, hour or so cutting, 2-3 hours welding, and an hour or so with seam sealer and your ready for paint

 

[bats]

Got a few hours of work in on Saturday. Started pulling the Engine harness on the Explorer. Got the power distribution box and starter solenoid mounted up. Mounted right where it was on the Bronco II.

Packed it in early because of the weather Saturday. Sunday didn't get anything accomplished due to some nasty food poisoning. I manned up and made it into work today to save what little sick time I have left. I plan on taking a long weekend once I'm ready to put the engine back in.

 

[bats]

One step closer this weekend. Got the Explorer steering column and gearbox mounted and mated. Both columns are the same length but I had to widen the hole to give yourself some wiggle room. The Ex column has the cable shift arm at the end, as well as a large arm that the shift cable latches on too. Stupid me didn't realize til I had it in that I could have unbolted the larger arm. Whoops. I bolted in a piece of pool wall siding to cover the hole. I'm going to cover both sides with some of the Peel n Seal stuff I got.

As for the rust, I Bondo'd everything. Really wanted to weld in some panels but it would delay this project for too long so Bondo. Sealed up good. Again, everything will be covered by a layer of Peel N Seal.

Also stared laying out the engine bay. Ran the wiring harness from the power distribution box. While it's relatively unoccupied, I may as well tackle the lights. That way I can tuck it all away neatly. Printed out some wiring diagrams and have started on that.

I noticed that I had two unused connectors that hang down on either side of the radiator which I'm assuming would connect to fog lights?

I left out the top two bolts since it seems solid as is.

Other noteworthy things, I decided to scrap the A/C for more room and less things to deal with. The hardlines on the Explorer didn't want to come off. I have a non a/c heater box on it's way from khabiak (sp?) Once that's in, I can put the actual dash back on!

 

[bats]

Progress is slow but steady as always. This weekend I rolled the lil ******* into the big car port since it's getting pretty crappy to be working outside. Tidied up some wiring and miscellaneous odds and ends.

I've already said I'm not doing much to the engine since it was running alright when I parked it. The A4LD is another story. In my travels through the forum I stumbled upon talks of swapping in a 700R4 tranny. Doesn't seem too terrible, just pricey. Looks to be about what it'd cost for a quality rebuilt A4LD.

A quick trip to my local craigslist shows me 700R4's are pretty plentiful and cheap. A rebuilt one should only cost me a few hundred + the AA adapters + misc odds and ends (shifter, dip tube, cooling lines) doesn't seem too bad. I sold the Volvo this past weekend so I have a few more $$ to throw at the Bronco.

 

[bats]

I took a long weekend to play catch up and to work on the Bronco.
Four straight days of wrenching + pots of coffee for breakfast + a bottle of Johnny Walker + an assload of cussing and wrench throwing = one Bronco II ready for a tranny and that much closer to running.

Friday night I got the engine resting on the mounts. Like. A. Glove.

Saturday and Sunday were spent detangling all the underhood harnesses and zip tying the crap out of everything. It's all neat and tidy under the hood now. Did a test fit with the air in take tube and it just about fits with the engine tilted back to where I think it will ultimately sit. Radiator is in along with fan shroud.

Monday I realized I had to install the tranny cooling lines. It was a b!tch snaking them through with the engine in place but I did it with minor bends. They should be okay. Mounted up the plate and fin tranny cooler from the explorer. Again, bolted right up like it belonged there. Took a while to figure out the layout for the starter wires and how the starter relay was wired because I was hastey in taking Before pics.

Today I stopped by ProTorque in Bohemia. Their name came up in a few threads here and they were local. Had a good chat with them and they signed me up for a heavy duty torque convertor for the A4LD which should be built by tomorrow.

After that, I pulled the transmission from under the Explorer. It's been sitting under the truck on a floor jack for the past two months so it's been elevated and pretty protected. One half of the floor jack had suck into the ground and so it rolled off when trying to maneuver it out. tq convertor came off and tranny juice everywhere! The good news it it smelled pretty ok. Wasn't too dark and didn't smell too burnt. I'll take that as a good sign.

The rains just started so I took it as a sign to call it quits and relax.

I've decided against the 700R4 for now. Time and budget constraints made me change my plans. The black truck needed new tires and brakes since it was ready to blow out. My plan is to get everything running with the stock drive train and get it running well. Then I'll futz around with all the fancy stuff.

I ordered up some misc stuff for the transmission (filter, pan gasket) as well as a rebuilt kit for the manual t-case I picked up. My goal is to at least have it running by Thanksgiving.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

 

[rookieshooter]

Nice to get that much work done, especially before winter.
Going to drive it up to Carlisle next year?

 

[bats]

Nice to get that much work done, especially before winter.
Going to drive it up to Carlisle next year?

That's what I'm aiming for.

 

[feared100]

hey howd ya make out with the storm and the build?

 

[bats]

hey howd ya make out with the storm and the build?

We really lucked up. I'm north of main street so flooding wasn't an issue and we never lost power.I'll put up a few pics here. You make it out alrigth?

Back to the Bronco, I hit another milestone today. The transmission is bolted up! I tried two weekends ago to do it by myself and failed. The torque convertor slipped of the last thump and I couldn't turn the flywheel at all. Then the hurricane came and I put in a few late nights at work dealing with the aftermath.

Using two extra long bolts with the heads cut off we guided the transmission in, testing for engine turnability along the way. We torqued the bolts to the scientific value of 'pretty fncking tight.' Hoorah.

A few weeks back I ordered a rebuild kit for the 1354 t-case I picked up from another member. It was a junk yard pull. Rather than trust the unknown, I decided to crack it open. I'm glad I did. The tab on the oil pump that keeps it from spinning with the input shaft showed some serious signs of wear. A couple of stress fractures and the tab to prevent it from spinning had cracked. Otherwise it was fine.

We're getting there.

 

[feared100]

Great to hear! And good on the progress. Am I going to see you on the beach this summer lol? And I'm finally going to install those halogen bulbs I bought a month ago. I made out ok. Lost power for 5 days. But my girlfriends grandparents lost their entire house to water. Talk about a nightmare. But at least they are all alive and safe.

 

[bats]

Hellz yeah I'm going to see you on the beach...if we have anything left. Smith Point normally suffers some natural erosion at the end of the summer season but nothing like this. Maybe I'll take a drive out there this weekend and see.

I hit another snag. One of the bushings needed to keep the manual transfer case in whichever range I select shot off into the oblivion of my basement. Kinda need it. I'm on a frantic search for a parts tcase since I'd hate to kill a good one just for a simple bushing. Looks like it can only be found in manual t-cases. :fire::frustrate